All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter 11. Matthew
chapter 11. This is a passage of scripture
that I feel the Lord has moved upon my heart again to speak
from. And we've considered it many
times. It's a passage of hope. A word from the Lord is this, the Lord's instruction
to his people, come to me, come to me. Matthew 11, 28 to 30 says
this, unto me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
and learn of me, for I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you shall
find rest unto your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden
is light. I want to I want to really consider
those three words, come unto me. The Lord in Matthew 11 had actually
disgraced some cities where many of his miracles had been performed
because they would not That's what it says in verse 20. Then
began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works
were done, because they repented not, because there was no change
of mind. Now, a change of mind is something
that only the Lord can do, but it does not excuse a man for
not repenting. I'm going to have to do something.
But the Lord, He reproached them to not believe, now listen, to
not believe. What's the worst crime in this
world? What's the worst crime? Here it is. To not believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's worse, worse, worse. Do you know that to not believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ is soul damning? He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not on the Son hath not life.
And the wrath of God abideth on him. What's the worst thing? Murder? Murder? To not believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture says in verse 21,
He said to these places where many of His miracles were done,
Woe unto thee, Chorazin, Woe unto thee, Bethsaida, for if
the mighty works were done in you, had been done in Tyre and
Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Woe, that word woe is damnation. Woe, damnation. Woe unto you, Chorazin and Bethsaida. You know Bethsaida. That's where
Philip, Andrew, and Peter, three of his apostles, that's where
they were from. God called them out of that place. If the mighty
works were done in you, it had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would have repented. I look at verse 23. And thou,
Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven,
shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which
were done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained
until this day." That scripture has always amazed me. If the mighty works that were
done in you, where you are, had been done in Sodom, and God destroyed
that city, if they were done there, He said, it would still
remain to this day. But he said in verse 22 and verse
24 respectively concerning those cities, but I say unto you, it
shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment
than for you. And concerning Capernaum, verse
24, I say that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
in the day of judgment than for thee. It's going to be more tolerable
for them than it will be for you. because the mighty works
that were done in where you are. I think about this little church
right here. I've said before, Katie Baptist
Church. Where in the world, I've said
this so many times, where in the world is Katie West Virginia? Where in the world is that? It's a blip. It's a bump in the
highway. That's all it is. I mean, you
go through Katy, if you're driving, you know, speed limit. I mean,
you're in and out. But God was pleased to raise
up a church here 65 plus years ago. And He's kept the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace here and preached the gospel
in this place. and blessed this unworthy sinner
to even be here. I'm not worthy. God put me here and made me to
be one with you. And the mighty works that's been
done. I'm looking at some folks that God's called out of darkness.
The mighty works that were done in this little place right here. and he's pleased to leave other
places with no witness. That's a miracle. Then after
the Lord rebuked them for their unbelief, oh, the horror of unbelief,
then he said in verse 25, and as soon as he got through rebuking,
upbraiding them, and then he said in verse 25, now he's praying.
At that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. Here He is. He's praying. And this is the
Lord. This is the Lord. We hear His
words. And what we do is we bow, we
bow. Whatever he says, we bow. I thank
thee, I thank thee. He told him, he told him, he
said, if the mighty work's done here, been done there, they would
have remained. It's gonna be more tolerable
for them than for you. And then he said, now you talk about sovereign. Now this is, here's sovereignty.
I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you
hid these things. What things? The things that
he was just talking about. The mighty works. I thank you
that you've been pleased to hide these things. Hide the gospel
of God's grace. If the Lord is silent, and does
he have the right to be silent? Listen, I'm going to tell you
something. These things are hard, hard against the flesh, aren't
they, Neil? They're hard. They're hard. I know it. I know
it. But it doesn't change, it doesn't
change the fact that the Lord said them, Father, I thank you
that you've been pleased to hide these things, these secret things
from those that believe themselves to be capable. If God doesn't
come to a man, David said, you know, if you're silent to me,
be not silent to me. Lord, don't be silent to me,
because if you're silent to me, I'm going to be as those that
go down to the pit. God, speak to my heart. Lord, have mercy
on me. I need mercy. I thank you. You've hidden these things from
the wise and prudent, and you've revealed them unto babes. Why? because it seemed good in your
sight. It seemed good in your sight. Now this is God. This is who God is. This is God. When I tell you he's not a beggar,
if you ever hear somebody say the Lord wants to, I've said
before, if the Lord wants to, he does. He don't ask nobody's
opinion. I don't know if that's good English,
but you got it. He does not appeal to man's will. God is God. It seemed good in thy sight. Moses said, show me your glory.
The Lord said, here's my glory. I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. Lord, have mercy on me. compassion
on me. And then he said in verse 27,
now he's speaking to those that are standing there. He says,
all things are delivered unto me of my father, and no man knoweth
the son, but the father neither knoweth any man the father, save
the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. Concerning his right to reveal
or to withhold precious knowledge, that's in the hands of God. I told you about that one in
my family again. I don't even like to tell you
if you're male or female, but somebody in my family, and that
truth was spoken to them. God does as He will. He can give
knowledge or withhold knowledge. And this person found in my family,
said, then your God is my devil. I said, well, well, this is the
one you're gonna stand before. This is the one you're gonna
have to give an account to. This is the one you're gonna have
to answer before. This is God. My recommendation is bow, bow,
bow. All things are delivered unto
me. Then he says, Verse 28, come unto me, all you that labor and
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come unto me. Now let me just say this. I'm gonna try to be brief. Don't walk down the aisle. I've
told you before, the only difference in me and you is 20, 30 feet.
Don't come down the aisle. Don't come and kneel at the altar. You never find that in the scriptures.
Show me one time in the scriptures where anybody ever walked down
an aisle. Every day I fell down before,
you know, some altar. This is just wood and carpets
all up here. Coming to Christ has nothing
to do with a physical act of a man's being. It's an act of
faith in the heart. Coming to Him is not turning
over a new leaf and straighten up and fly right. I can do that. I can do that. I can fool you.
I can pretend and smile. Faith in Christ is the gift of
God. It's given unto you to believe.
Lord, give me faith. Lord, give me faith. It's the
action of a new nature. Does a man believe in order to
be saved, or does he believe because God saved him? I'll give
you the answer. He believes because God's given
him faith to believe. Before a man or woman, they're
dead spiritually. Does a baby breathe for the first
time to become alive? Or does a baby breathe at birth
because the baby's alive? Well, breathing is an evidence
of life. Life is there. Life in a sinner
is given by belief. Brother Henry Mahan says, which
comes first, life or belief? He said, you can't even separate
them. You can't separate them. God's people believe because
God's made them alive. Faith in Christ, coming to me. What happens when a man or woman
is by the grace of God made to come to the Lord, what they do
is they leave or they forsake all former confidence in self-righteous
acts or works. I got saved back, you know, years
ago. I've said before, that's all
water under the bridge. Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ right now? That's all that matters. That's
all that matters. Do I believe Him right now? Do I need Him right now? Do I
need Him to save me right now? I got saved years ago. A believer's converted in time,
and there is a point. where the Spirit of God comes
and they're regenerated. They're delivered out of darkness,
unbelief, and light of the gospel. There's a point. But I'm telling
you, they're being saved right now. God's got to save me right
now. I called on the Lord. I'm going
to tell you something, a believer's got to call on the Lord now,
right now. I came to the Lord, He that cometh
unto me. A believer never quits coming
to the Lord. Yeah, he's coming right now. Come unto me, he said. All ye
that labor and are heavy laden. All of you that's been quickened
to life in Christ and now see by nature the burden of the failures
in themselves. Don't you, you that know him,
Doesn't it just weigh on you? Doesn't it just weigh on you
because of the failure you see in yourself? I want to trust Him. I trust
Him, but I want to trust Him. I need Him. I need Him. Lord,
help me. Help me. All you that are laboring
and are heavy laden, may them to see themselves as waiting
down with the presence of this old man. I just, I get so tired
of myself. I get so outdone with me. I've
got a desire to hear again that peace and reconciliation with
God's been accomplished through the blood of Christ. Tell me
that one more time. I need to hear it. Oh, laboring
and being heavy laden is the result. Laboring and being heavy laden
with myself. is a result of the grace of God.
Why? Because it's that I've sinned against the Lord. The Lord. I've told you before, criminals
that are caught, they're sorry because they got caught. That's
the only reason. You know, they come before a
judge, they were caught, they were arraigned, they were, you
know, they'd been gone and they come in and now they're, you
know, I'm so sorry, please forgive me. Well, yeah, you got caught. But until they got caught, they
weren't. They weren't. They weren't. David,
King David, said this in Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me, O Lord,
against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil,
this evil in your sight. That prodigal son came back and
told his daddy, I've sinned against heaven, and I've done it. I've
done it right in front of you. I've been so disrespectful. I've
spoken so disrespectfully. God, forgive me. Lord, have mercy. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and heavy laden, and listen to this promise, and I will give
you rest. I will give you rest. rest of a heavy heart is given,
not earned, not worked up. This rest, I will give you rest. I will give you rest. I'll settle your heart. Come
to me. Hebrews 4, Hebrews chapter 4,
verses 9 to 11. Right now, God's people, we're
heavy laden. Burdened down with what we see
in ourselves. In a believer, there's a spirit
of just, I want to settle down, I want to. Listen to this rest,
so Hebrews 4, verse 9 to 11. There remaineth therefore a rest,
a Sabbath, to the people of God, for he that entereth into his
rest He also has ceased from his own works as God did from
his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. Let's labor. There's a rest. There's a rest right now from
the bondage of thinking that my works for salvation is why
God has had mercy upon me. There's a rest from that. God
delivers us from that. But there's a rest that's coming
for the people of God. And you know, the older a man
gets, the older a woman gets, I'm convinced. I used to hear
people say this, and I think I'm starting to believe it. After
a while, you start getting older, you start getting tired. You
think about going home. You think about leaving this
world. You think about that rest, that
rest from the labors, the burdens of this world. He said, labor,
labor to enter in, labor. Hasten, make haste, exert yourself
to give diligence to rest. as we grow in grace, there is
a future rest. A believer right now knows something
about rest by faith. But one day, there's coming a
time when he's gonna see it by sight. He's gonna leave this
world. And that blessing of resting,
there is a rest for the people of God. It's only gonna be known
when we leave this world. So therefore precious in sight
of the Lord is the death of his saints. We pray that almighty
God would move upon the hearts of his people. I pray this for
you. Pray this for me. Lord, grant me a heart, a knowledge
to come to you. You are the great shepherd of
the sheep and we're walking through this world. We're struggling.
Lord, To hear you say, come unto me. Again, not to the front,
not to the preacher, not to the baptismal pool. He knows our
troubles. He knows our trials and afflictions
because he sent them. He sent them. He worked with
all things after the counsel of his own will. He was tempted
in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. He knows, he
knows. There's a day coming. He says
right now to his people, come, come to me. Come to me. I think about when a little child,
a little child just starting to walk a little bit, he's struggling
a little bit, he's just kind of staggering all around trying
to get his legs, you know, a little bit of strength in them. Now,
what does this mean? What does this mean? Come here,
come on, come on, come to me. What you're trying to do is you're
beckoning them. Oh, this is the Lord, come to
me. come unto me. There's coming a time when that
final blessed come before there's an entering. Listen to this.
In the day of God's judgment, he says to the sheep, come you blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Precious words of hope for a
needy center come unto This promise I Will give you
rest Don't you want that I do I pray God give it to us his
glory. I could